Communication and user participation are two of the most important features of Web 2.0. As a result of these features, users are able to share their personal data (e.g. photos), their thoughts, views and experiences with an online community. In addition to sharing information users can also comment on the information that is shared by others.
Social tags support this function and have therefore also become important sources of information. Quality information has also become available through online bookstores such as Amazon.com, social catalogues such as LibraryThing.com, library catalogues published on the web and numerous open access journals. The different commercial and social catalogues also allow users to annotate resources by tagging them. The advantage of social tagging lies in its ability to allow users to index and catalogue resources with their own vocabulary and their own needs in mind. This is contrary to traditional library catalogues, where formal lists of subject headings are used but which are not necessarily understood by users or which do not adequately describe information according to user needs. Decentralised bibliographic control is the result of these changes.
Unfortunately, decentralised bibliographic control is affected negatively by existing cataloguing and metadata standards such as the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2). There are two reasons for this phenomenon. The first is that the AACR2 rules require trained cataloguers to create the bibliographic descriptions. Second, AACR2 rules no longer adequately support all the new information formats that have become available. This revolution in the digital information environment has resulted in the development of a new online cataloguing code known as RDA: Resource Description and Access.
New Directions in Information Organization is a compilation of important articles on information organisation in the Web 2.0 and Semantic Web environments. The articles were all previously published in Library and Information Science, an Emerald journal. The aim of this compilation is to provide readers with the current state of the digital information revolution, with the associated opportunities and challenges to information organisation. It presents broad, holistic and more integrated perspectives on the nature of information organisation and examines new directions in information organisation research and thinking. It also highlights the need to understand information organisation and Web 2.0 in the context of the rapidly changing information world. The book is subdivided into three sections: RDA, Semantic Web and Linked Data; Web 2.0; and The Future of Library Catalogues in an Interactive Communication Network.
The editors can be congratulated on their work in this volume. I find it a valuable resource for updating my students on the latest trends and development in bibliographic control and information organisation, especially on the issue of information organisation standards. Unfortunately, the two-page index seems to be the Cinderella of the volume. It lists 31 terms, includes some sub-entries and cites numerous page numbers. A more detailed index would have contributed much to the value of the book.
